Sala Bio, curated by the Biografilm Festival of Bologna in collaboration with Gruppo Unipol, is a touring project present in various Italian cities (Milan, Bologna and Rome) dedicated to the best biopics and great life stories. On 16 September, at the Cinema Colosseo in Milan, the season will be inaugurated with a preview of the film Jimi: all is by my side, a picture that tells the story of rock legend Jimi Hendrix and is distributed in Italy by I Wonder Pictures in collaboration with the Unipol Biografilm Collection.

There are at least three good reasons to go and see Jimi: all is by my side.

First of all, the film tells the story of one of the most prolific periods in the life of Jimi Hendrix and – if it is true that his guitar made the history of rock – of rock music as a whole. The story begins in 1966 and ends a few days before the famous performance at the Monterey Pop Festival which, with the epilogue of the burning Stratocaster, definitively consecrated Hendrix's genius. That was his year of transformation: he met, for the first time, his muse and mentor Linda Keith, at the time Keith Richards's girlfriend, who introduced him to Chas Chandler, bassist of the Animals, who quickly became his manager and helped him launch Hey Joe, the defining song with which he would first conquer Europe, then the world. That same year also saw the birth of a masterpiece album, Are You Experienced.

The second reason is that the film is based on archival material and real interviews and is directed by John Ridley. An American writer, actor and screenwriter, Ridley is making his first foray as a producer and director, but he has already won an Academy Award in 2014 for best screenplay for Steve McQueen's film 12 Years a Slave, a picture that also won the most coveted statuette for best film overall. Added to all this is an extraordinary performance by André Benjamin/André 3000 (one half of OutKast), who rediscovers himself as a rather accomplished actor.

The third reason, finally, is that the film has not had an easy journey and arrives in Italian cinemas after years of tribulations and long waits: Jimi Hendrix's family opposed the making of the feature, going so far as to deny authorisation for the use of the original repertoire. On multiple occasions Experience Hendrix LLC, the company-foundation that manages Jimi's image and 100 per cent of his music, threatened the film's production with legal action, and for Hendrix's former girlfriend Kathy Etchingham, the film does not faithfully reflect the reality of events.

That may be so, but the feature has finally been completed and looks set to become a cult classic: presented for the first time in the Special Presentations section at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, Jimi: all is by my side should not be considered a straightforward documentary or a simple biopic. Rather, it is a deeply emotional investigation and a story with a strong human dimension of a crucial year in the life of a great artist.

At the Cinema Colosseo on 16 September, the original version with Italian subtitles will be screened, with an introduction by music critic Enzo Gentile.